Activision Blizzard’s Third Quarter Delivered Record Results Thanks To Destiny 2 And Hearthstone

Activision Blizzard is a massive conglomerate of game publishing so of course their third quarter results were pretty solid. Overwatch and Hearthstone continue to be fan-favorites and draw in money off their micro-transactions, and of course Destiny 2 launched on console in time to hit the report, which netted a record turnout for Activision Blizzard in terms of year-to-date turnout and quarterly results. The company netted $1.618 Billion USD for their third quarter, which was higher than the expected turnout of $1.385 Billion. The major reasons for the massive turnout were the release of Destiny 2, Hearthstone‘s Knights of the Frozen Throne expansion, and the revenues generated by mobile publisher King which sits under the Activision Blizzard corporate umbrella.

In the press release put out alongside the quarterly results report, CEO of Activision Blizzard Bobby Kotick said “This was another strong quarter. We delivered record results and impressive engagement. With the recently released Destiny 2 off to a strong start, King’s position as the number one mobile publisher in the US, our release of Call of Duty: WWII, and the upcoming launch of the Overwatch League, we have great momentum as we approach the end of the year.” Kotick added, “By investing in our franchises and communities, we continue to make progress on our efforts to connect and engage the world through epic entertainment,” which is to say that the model of micro-transactions and live games is the best way to make a profit in gaming in 2017. Activision Blizzard has high hopes for their end of year numbers, as the hype train for Call of Duty: WWII has been long and heated. Early reactions to the game are positive, so that leads some credibility to Activision’s hopes as well.

As for their end of year forecast, the company expects to bring in $1.7 Billion USD in the fourth quarter alone for a combined total of $6.675 Billion for the year. And, they’ll probably make that number easily since neither Call of Duty: WWII nor Destiny 2‘s PC sales have hit their bottom line yet.